Saturday, January 28, 2017

SEATTLE—Tacoma native Brie Felnagle’s (#11, behind Kate Grace/photo by Paul Merca) move from the Pacific Northwest to Sacramento to train with the Nor Cal Distance Project is already paying dividends as the Bellarmine Prep HS alum and former NCAA champion at the University of North Carolina ran 4:27.27 to win the mile at the UW Invitational Saturday at the Dempsey Indoor on the campus of the University of Washington.

Felnagle was towed to the facility record by training partner and US Olympian Kate Grace, going through the half mile in just a shade under 2:13. Grace continued to lead through the 3/4 mile mile mark before dropping out with one lap to go over the 307-meter Dempsey oval.

Felnagle wasn’t in the clear yet, as Camas’ Alexa Efraimson, the 19 year old wunderkind, tried to make a challenge to knock off the veteran Felnagle, who had perhaps the worst season of her professional career in 2016, as she failed to even qualify for the US Olympic Trials.

On the final lap, the 30-year old Felnagle, who came down from a 4-week training stint at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona, drew energy from the crowd lining the track and pulled away from Efraimson to win in a 2017 world leading time of 4:27.27, beating her old personal best of 4:29.83 set in 2014, and her indoor PR of 4:32.17 set way back in 2009.

In a post race interview, Felnagle said that drawing the positive energy from her current training group that includes Olympians Grace and Kim Conley has been a large reason for her turnaround in the 2017 season.

The University of Washington’s Colby Gilbert from Vancouver, Washington ran a collegiate leading time and University of Washington school record of 7:45.71 in the men’s 3000, winning that event over Canadian Olympians Charles Philibert-Thiboutot (7:46.22) and Nate Brannen (7:47.18).

Gilbert’s winning time is also currently the fifth fastest time in the world this season and the third fastest by an American this season.

Grace, who announced that she will sign with Nike after being sponsored the last few seasons by Seattle-based Oiselle, came back after pacing Felnagle’s world-leading time in the mile to win the 800 meters in 2:02.29 to set a new meet and facility record, the sixth fastest time in the world so far this season.

The women’s pole vault lived up to its billing as Duke alum Megan Clark, who trains at the US Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, and is sponsored by Seattle-based Oiselle, won with a new facility record of 14-11 (4.55m), the seventh-best mark in the world this season.

In University Park, Pennsylvania, Cas Loxsom of the Seattle based Brooks Beasts set a new world record in the 600 meter run at the Penn State National Open Saturday.

Loxsom, who was pushed by Penn State’s Isaiah Harris, ran 1:14.91, to Harris’s 1:14.96., to break the pending world record of 1:14.97 set last week by Emmanuel Korir of Kenya & UTEP in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The time also beats the low-altitude record of 1:15.12 set by Germany’s Nico Motchebon in 1999.

Loxsom, a Penn State alum, said afterwards, "This is one of my favorite tracks in the world to compete at," Loxsom continued. The crowd was amazing, with so many old friends and Nittany Lion family. Isaiah (Harris) is an incredible athlete and I was thankful to have him in the race to push me. He's a rare talent and it was fitting to showcase the past alongside the future of a program I was so proud to be a part of."

At the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix meet in Roxbury, Massachusetts, Garrett Heath of the Brooks Beasts finished seventh in 7:46.34, as Olympic 5000m silver medalist Paul Chelimo of the US Army won in 7:42.39, the fastest time in the world so far this season.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Washington State freshman Sam Brixey broke his own class record in the 60-meter hurdles, running 7.93 to win that event at the New Mexico Team Invitational meet.

Regen Gaffney won the women’s 60 dash in a personal best 7:45, while former Pac-12 pole vault champ Kristine Felix won her specialty in a season best mark of 13-6.25 (4.12m), as the Cougs captured three wins on the day.

Friday, January 27, 2017

SEATTLE—2016 US Olympian Barbara Nwaba (left/photo by Paul Merca) of the Santa Barbara Track Club won the pentathlon competition to highlight the first day of the UW Invitational at the Dempsey Indoor facility early Friday evening.

Nwaba, the reigning US national champion in both the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon, took command of the competition early, winning the 60 hurdles in 8.50 for 1017 points, and the high jump with a leap of 5-11.5 (1.82m) for 1003 points.

She won her third event in a row, taking the shot put with a toss of 45-8.5 (13.93m) to add 789 points to her total.

The long jump was her only bad event of the day, as she only had a best of 17-8 (5.38m) to pick up 665 points, as she was beaten by six competitors in that event, which is normally one of her stronger specialties.

Needing to run beyond her personal best to take the world lead of 4550 set earlier in the day by Alina Shukh of Ukraine, Nwaba went out hard, but eased in to win the 800 in a time of 2:14.33 to finish with a 5-event score of 4376 points, currently the fourth best score in the world, and easily take the US lead this season.

Other highlights:

—Washington’s Kennadi Bouyer set a new school record in the 200 meters, running 23.88 to finish second overall to San Diego State’s Ashley Henderson’s meet record of 23.57;

—In the women’s distance medley relay, Seattle Pacific’s distance medley relay team of Sarah Macdonald, Lani Taylor, Chynna Phan & Mary Charleston took fourth in 11:42.22, which is the second fastest time in NCAA D2 so far this season, behind GNAC member Simon Fraser, who finished ahead of them in second in a time of 11:39.36;

—Arizona’s Avery Mickens leads the heptathlon at the break with a four-event total of 3117 over Oregon’s Mitch Modin (3032) and Washington’s Josh Gordon (2991).

NOTES—2016 US Olympian in the 800m Kate Grace is reportedly going to announce her new sponsor on social media before she makes her debut with her new kit Saturday at the UW Invitational.

Grace, who was sponsored by Seattle-based Oiselle in 2016, was seen wearing a pair of yellow, black and pink Nike spikes while doing her shakedown at the Dempsey before the meet started. However, Grace was also seen wearing training shoes and apparel from different manufacturers.

Two weeks ago, Grace, who trains out of Sacramento with the Nor Cal Distance Project group, ran a Dempsey facility record 8:47.26 wearing an all-black kit sans manufacturers logo.

Garrett Heath of the Seattle based Brooks Beasts will run in the 3000 meters at Saturday’s nationally-televised New Balance Indoor Grand Prix meet at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury, just outside of Boston.

He will face a field that includes Olympic 5000m medalist Paul Chelimo and Olympic 800m bronze medalist Clayton Murphy.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

All nine of Washington’s Division I and II schools will have representatives competing at this weekend’s UW Invitational meet at the Dempsey Indoor, hosted by the University of Washington.

In addition to the nine Washington schools. a number of local pros, headlined by Rio Olympian Andrea Geubelle (left/photo by Paul Merca) from University Place will be in action at the two-day meet, which begins Friday at 1 pm, with the heptathlon 60 meter dash.

Former Puyallup resident Hassan Mead, a Rio Olympic finalist in the 5000, and Greek Olympian Alexi Pappas, who are both members of the Nike Oregon Track Club Elite, withdrew from the meet shortly after the UW posted the accepted entries on Tuesday.

Events to watch:

On Friday, US Olympian Barbara Nwaba of the Santa Barbara TC opens up in the pentathlon, where she goes against a pair of Santa Barbara TC teammates in Chari Hawkins and Lindsay Lettow and last year’s Pac-12 heptathlon runner-up Alyssa Thompson, in what is perhaps the largest multi-event field in UW Invite history, with 32 women entered.

The two-day heptathlon has Oregon’s Mitch Modin and Joe Delgado battling the Huskies’ Josh Gordon, with the Santa Barbara TC’s Tom Hopkins and Tom FitzSimons out to push the collegians.

Saturday’s best events include:

Women’s Long Jump (9 am): University Place resident Andrea Geubelle goes up against two-time Olympian Sharon Day-Monroe, who missed a berth on the Rio Olympic team in the heptathlon by one place and 18 points.

Women’s Pole Vault (2;30 pm): The last two Pac-12 champs: Kristina Owsinski and Liz Quick of the UW, are up against San Diego State alums Kristen Brown and Kortney Ross.

Men’s Mile (3:30 pm): Another two-time US Olympian who missed out on a third team last year in in the field, as Oregon alum Andrew Wheating goes against Brannon Kidder of the Brooks Beasts, Vancouver resident Luc Bruchet, and NCAA cross country runner-up Justyn Knight of Syracuse. Originally, 2012 Irish Olympian Ciaran O’Lionaird was entered, but has withdrawn. However, there are conflicting reports that he may still show up…stay tuned!

Women’s 800 (4:05 pm): Olympian Kate Grace, who set a facility record two weeks ago in the women’s 3000, races for real in the 800 against a trio of Seattle-based Brooks Beasts runners in Claudia Saunders, Baylee Mires and Natalja Piliusina.

Men’s 3000 (4:50 pm): Canadian Olympians Nate Brannen and Charles Philibert-Thiboudot, with Washington’s Colby Gilbert and Puyallup native David Elliott, formerly of Boise State thrown in the mix and Stanford frosh sensation Thomas Ratcliffe, who is competing unattached.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

—Eight 2016 Rio Olympians are entered including University Place native Andrea Geubelle (left/photo by Paul Merca), who will do both the long and triple jumps; Kate Grace, who is entered in both the 800 and mile; Alexi Pappas (5000m); Barbara Nwaba (pentathlon on Friday, plus long jump and 60 hurdles); former Puyallup resident Hassan Mead (mile & 3000); Nate Brannen (3000); Charles Philibert-Thiboudot (3000); and Logan Cunningham (pole vault).

Shortly after this was posted, agent Dan Lilot dropped a note stating that Canada's Luc Bruchet, who has been a regular at the Dempsey, will run the mile, to make it nine Rio Olympians. He was not on the initial list released by the school.

—In the women’s distance medley relay, both Stanford and the host Huskies are shooting for a possible sub-11 minute run;

—On the field, two of the best events will be pole vault, featuring the last two Pac-12 champs: Kristina Owsinski and Liz Quick of the UW, against San Diego State alums Kristen Brown and Kortney Ross; and the long jump, featuring a trio of Olympians—Andrea Geubelle, Barbara Nwaba, and Sharon Day-Monroe;

—Nwaba, who was the Olympic Trials champion in the heptathlon, opens Friday with the pentathlon, where she’ll face her Santa Barbara TC teammate Chari Hawkins and last year’s Pac-12 heptathlon runner-up Alyssa Thompson, in what is perhaps the largest multi-event field in UW Invite history, with 32 women entered.

—The mile has seven athletes who have run under 4 minutes including former Puyallup resident and 2016 US Olympian Hassan Mead (left/photo by Paul Merca); two-time US Olympian and Oregon alum Andrew Wheating; and 2012 Irish Olympian Ciaran O’Lionaird. With the addition of Vancouver's Luc Bruchet, a regular at the Dempsey, this makes it eight sub-4 minute milers;

—A trio of Olympians headline the 3000: Mead, and Canadians Nate Brannen and Charles Philibert-Thiboudot, with Washington’s Colby Gilbert and Puyallup native David Elliott, formerly of Boise State thrown in the mix;

—In the men’s pole vault, Rio Olympian Logan Cunningham headlines the field, where he’ll face Idaho State alum Mike Arnold, who was eighth at last year’s world indoor championships in Portland;

—In the heptathlon, Oregon’s Mitch Modin and Joe Delgado battle the Huskies’ Josh Gordon, with the Santa Barbara TC’s Tom Hopkins and Tom FitzSimons out to push the collegians.

As always, the list of accepted entries are tentative, as athletes are bound to scratch and/or switch events. The University of Washington will post final entries and heats/flights sometime on Thursday.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

In Pullman, freshman Sam Brixey (above/photo courtesy WSU Sports Information) broke Jeshua Anderson’s Washington State University freshman class record in the 60-meter hurdles to highlight action at the WSU Open meet Saturday at the WSU Indoor Facility.

The native of Boise, Idaho ran 8.00 to eclipse Anderson’s record from 2008 of 8.01, as the Cougars racked up seven event victories at the meet.

Brixley’s mark is currently the third fastest time in the MPSF conference at this early stage of the season, as Marquis Morris of USC leads with a time of 7.81.

Ja’Maun Charles of the Cougars led a 1-2-3 finish in the men’s 60, winning in a time of 6.80, with teammates Zach Smith second in 6.95 and Ethan Gardner third in 7.01.

On the women’s side, Cougar senior Kristine Felix won the pole vault to take a share of the MPSF lead with a clearance of 13-1.5 (4.00m).

Another top mark from the meet was the effort of WSU senior Kiana Davis, who won the triple jump on Friday night with a leap of 41-0.5 (12.51m), which currently puts her second in the conference.

In Nampa, Idaho, pole vaulters Larry Still and Anandae Clark of Eastern Washington each emerged victorious in their events at the Boise State Bronco Invitational Saturday.

Still, the reigning Big Sky champion, won with a clearance of 16-2.75 (4.95m), which is the best mark in the Big Sky conference as of now.

Clark won her event with a best of 12-11.5 (3.95m), easily winning her event by 6 inches, and taking over the Big Sky lead in that event.

Seattle Pacific alum McKayla Fricker won the 600 meter run in 1:28.82, while former Husky Eleanor Fulton was third in 1:31.40. Both went 1-2 in the 800, with Fricker winning in 2:10.19, and Fulton clocking 2:10.35 for second.

Fricker and Fulton are members of the High Performance West group based in Portland.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Washington State and Eastern Washington’s indoor track & field teams are in action this weekend, with the Cougars hosting the 15th annual WSU Open meet at their indoor facility on the WSU campus in Pullman Friday and Saturday, and the Eagles traveling to Boise for the Boise State Bronco Invitational at Jacksons Track in Nampa.

The Friday portion of the WSU Open will consist of competition in the discus, weight throws, triple jumps and the men’s pole vault, while the remainder of the meet will go on Saturday.

In addition to the host Cougars, athletes from Gonzaga, Central Washington, and Division III schools Puget Sound and Whitworth will have competitors at the meet.

Eastern Washington will send a majority of their squad to Nampa for the Bronco Invitational at Jacksons Track on Saturday.

According to Eagle women’s coach Marcia Mecklenburg, "The Bronco Invite will give us a chance to compete against Sacramento State and Portland State for the first time this year," said Mecklenburg. "Sac is always tough across all event areas and Portland State has some amazing sprinters. I am expecting our defending Big Sky champion Rebecca Tarbert (60m) to get tested. Our vaulters should also have a little more ccompetition then they have had in the last couple of meets and it will be fun to see how they respond."

"At this time of the year, the focus is to continue improving marks, and take advantage of competition situations and learn from them," Mecklenburg said.

Friend of the blog and former University of Washington hammer thrower Martin Bingisser, who lives in Switzerland, was back in the Seattle area over the Christmas holiday, and while he was in town, did an interview with Brooks Beasts coach Danny Mackey and his wife and UW alum Katie (left/photo by Paul Merca).

Danny and Katie discuss how they make the most of being married to her coach, what they are striving to improve upon, and the key factors in building a team.

Danny talks about his shortcomings as a coach and how he is trying to improve. Chief among them is creating a culture of accountability.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Here are some social media links from a pair of runners with Washington ties to get you through the middle of the week:

University of Washington pharmacy school student Phoebe Wright (left/photo by Paul Merca), who finished sixth at the US Olympic Track & Field trials last July, is a guest on the House of Run podcast, where she reveals publicly that she had been dropped by Nike.

To put this in personal context, I just happened to run into Phoebe at the end of my run at the Redmond Watershed Preserve on New Year’s Day (a day in which I should’ve been on the couch watching NFL games on TV, but for whatever mysterious reason, felt motivated enough to drive 30 minutes away from home to run the trails at the Watershed Preserve after being out New Year’s Eve).

After exchanging pleasantries with her and her friends, I was showing her the brand new running shoes that I got from Nike in Beaverton a few days earlier, then asked her when she was opening up her 2017 season, when she said, “Not sure. Nike booted me (swinging her leg in a kicking motion).”

In my haste to find a restroom after running, I didn’t think much of her comment about being dropped, and it really didn’t sink in until after I started driving back home.

One of the harsh realities of professional track & field is that sponsors drop athletes, particularly at the end of an Olympic cycle.

In this interview (which starts at about the 26 minute mark), she reveals how she was given the news about being dropped by Nike.

She goes on to say that “if I had an offer on the table that covered tuition and a part of my living expenses, I would break up my schooling to where I could fully focus on running and have the side gig of school.”

Wright, who is perhaps one of the most candid and personable athletes on the US circuit, goes into depth on how the business side of the sport works.

She does state in the interview that she plans to compete this season, but not until the outdoor season.

After the race, she wrote a blog post, but not about her race. Instead, she wrote about her sisters, Georgia and Shannon Porter, both of whom were NCAA Division II All-Americans last season, the latter at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey.

The Cougs came away with nine individual winners at the Ed Jacoby meet including Ja’Maun Charles and Regyn Gaffney, who were double winners on the day.

Charles won the men's 60m dash with a PR time of 6.76, and won the 200m dash in a time of 21.74. Gaffney won the women's 60m dash with a PR time of 7.60 seconds, and won the 200m dash with a time of 25.39, the same time as WSU’s Tierney Silliman.

Saturday, January 14, 2017

SEATTLE—Reigning world indoor and Olympic 1500 meter champion Matthew Centrowitz (left/photo by Paul Merca) put on a show by easily winning the men’s 3000 meter run to highlight competition at the UW Indoor Preview meet Saturday at the Dempsey Indoor.

With Ireland’s 2012 Olympian and 2011 world championship finalist Ciaran O’Lionaird doing the pacesetting for the first mile, Centrowitz looked relaxed and controlled as he won the 3000 meters in a time of 7:49.89 on the oversized track (Russia’s Vladamir Nikitin has run 7:48.13, but the Russian federation is still under IAAF suspension which is easily the fastest time in the world).

Nearly breaking the 8 minute mark in the 3000 was Gonzaga’s Troy Fraley, as he took second behind Centrowitz in a time of 8:00.54, ahead of US cross country champion Craig Lutz (8:01.19) and 3-time USA world championship steeplechaser Dan Huling (8:03.93). Fraley’s mark is the second fastest time in NCAA Division I so far this season.

In a bit of an upset, 2016 US Olympian Kate Grace defeated reigning world indoor 1500 meter champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands and the Nike Oregon Project in the women’s 3000, running a facility record 8:47.26 to Hassan’s 8:50.36.

Finishing third was Bellarmine Prep grad Brie Felnagle, who is now training in the Sacramento area with Grace, as she ran 8:52.35, while Lauren Paquette in fourth (8:54.71) and Leah O’Connor in fifth (8:56.14) all broke 9 minutes in what easily was the fastest race in the world at that distance so far this season.

Federal Way native Hannah Cunliffe ran the fastest time in the world so far this season in the 60 meter dash, as the University of Oregon junior ran 7.19 to defeat Washington’s Kennadi Bouyer, who ran 7.29, the same time as Makenzie Dunmore of Oregon ran to with the first of the two-section final. Dunmore and Bouyer currently are tied for the fifth fastest time in the world so far this season.

Other highlights—

—Washington’s Colby Gilbert, who admittedly was disappointed with how his cross country season finished, opened his season by breaking 4 minutes in the mille for the second time in his career, running 3:58 96, finishing behind Oregon alum Eric Jenkins, who ran 3:58.68;

—In the women’s 600, NCAA 800 champ Raevyn Rogers of Oregon ran 1:26.97, just off her meet record and collegiate best 1:26.34 set last year. Olivia Baker of Stanford, who finished behind Rogers at the NCAA outdoor championships, was second in 1:28.22, just nosing out Olympia native Brooke Feldmeier of Oregon by 1/100th of a second;

—The women’s 60 hurdles saw Oregon’s Sasha Wallace set a meet record 7.96, the fastest time in the world so far this season, and scare the 11-year old facility record of 7.93 set by Rainier Beach HS grad Ginnie (Powell) Crawford;

—After rupturing her Achilles tendon last year, 2015 Pac-12 champ Kristina Owsinski won the women’s pole vault with a clearance of 13-6.5 (4.13m) to defeat former Pac-12 champ Kristine Felix of Washington State (13-0.75/3.98m) and current Pac-12 champ Liz Quick of Washington (13-0.75/3.98m). Owsinski only has outdoor eligibility left for the Huskies, so she competed unattached Saturday.

This weekend marks the first full weekend of indoor track and field action for the state’s collegiate and professional athletes with three meets on the schedule.

The University of Washington opens the gates of the Dempsey Indoor facility Saturday for the UW Indoor Preview, with sIx of the state’s nine Division I and II schools represented, starting on the field at 9 am with three women’s field events—pole vault, long jump, and weight throw—and at 9:30 am on the track with the qualifying round of the women’s 60 hurdles.

Men’s 1000 (11:25 am) Oregon alum Eric Jenkins, whose late charge in the closing stages of the Olympic Trials 5000 almost gained him a spot on Team USA, goes against UW All-American Blake Nelson;

Women’s mile (11:40 am) Olympic Trials 1500m and two-time world juniors finalist Alexa Efraimson from Camas goes against Nozumi Takamatsu of Japan, who won the 2014 Youth Olympics 3000, and was fourth in the 2014 world junior 3000m race in Eugene. Throw in 2012 Canadian Olympian at 800m Jessica Smith, Canadian cross country champ Sasha Gollish and former NCAA D2 800m champ Lindsey Butterworth in for good measure, and sub 4:35 is a possibility this early;

Men’s mile (12:05 pm) Jenkins is expected to come back from the 1000 to run the mile against Canadian Olympians Luc Bruchet and Charles Philibert-Phiboutot, 2012 Irish Olympian Ciaran O’Lionaird, and UW All-American Colby Gilbert. At least six athletes have seed times under 4 minutes.

Women’s 60 (12:30 pm) Assuming they make it out of the prelims at 10:45 am, the final could potentially see a battle between Federal Way native Hannah Cunliffe of Oregon, the reigning Pac-12 sprint queen, against the Huskies’ Kennadi Bouyer, Oregon’s two US Olympians in Ariana Washington & Deajah Stevens, and San Diego State’s All-American Micha Auzenne;

Seeded Women’s Pole Vault (1 pm) This features three of the last four Pac-12 champions in that event—Kristine Felix of Washington State, Kristina Owsinski of the UW (who is competing unattached), and reigning champ Liz Quick of the Huskies;

Women’s 600 (2 pm) Last year’s race was a barnburner, with Stanford’s Olivia Baker taking it out hard, before being caught by Oregon’s Raevyn Rogers, with Rogers running a collegiate and facility best 1:26.34. Those two finished 1-2 in the NCAA championship race at 800 in Eugene last June, and will be joined by Olympic Trials qualifiers Lauren Wallace and Dominique Jackson, along with Rogers’ Oregon teammate and Olympia native Brooke Feldmeier;

Women’s 3000 (4:20 pm) This race is loaded, and the possibility of a sub 8:55 race is real, with defending world indoor 1500m champ and 2015 world championships bronze medalist Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands the headliner. The former Ethiopian national goes against a pair of US Olympians in Kim Conley and Kate Grace, though Flotrack reports that Conley will be the pacesetter.

Also in the field are Bellarmine Prep alum Brie Felnagle, who recently moved her training base to Sacramento from Seattle; Canadian cross country champ Sasha Gollish, along with Olympic Trials qualifiers Rochelle Kanuho, Leah O’Connor, and Lauren Paquette, not to mention 13-year old world age-group record holder Grace Ping;

Men’s 3000 (5 pm) It’s not every day that a defending Olympic champion opens up the following season at the Dempsey—in fact, it’s only happened once in the Dempsey’s 15 years, and that was in 2005 when 2004 Olympic 100 hurdles champion Joanna Hayes ran the 60 hurdles at the UW Indoor Preview.

World indoor and Olympic 1500 meter champ Matthew Centrowitz of the Nike Oregon Project opens the 2017 season in the 3000 against 2012 Irish Olympian Ciaran O’Lionaird, Japanese Olympian Suguru Osako, and three-time world championships steeplechaser Dan Huling, with Gonzaga’s Troy Fraley, and former Texas All-American Craig Lutz thrown in the field, along with four NCAA Division II All Americans in David Ribich of Western Oregon, Marc-Antoine Rouleau of Simon Fraser, and the Alaska Anchorage duo of Dominik Notz and Edwin Kangogo.

Washington State University will have a split squad competing this weekend, with sprinters, hurdlers, vertical jumpers, and throwers competing at the Ed Jacoby Invitational hosted by Boise State at the Jacksons Indoor Facility in Nampa, while its middle distance, distance, and horizontal jumpers will compete in Seattle.

Eastern Washington, Central Washington and Saint Martin’s will have athletes competing in Moscow at the Vandal Indoor Invitational Friday starting with field events at 9 am, and running events at noon.

Similar to last year’s debut meet in Eugene, each of the three meets in the 2017 TrackTown Summer Series will focus on scored competition between the teams representing San Francisco, Portland, Philadelphia and New York City.

TrackTown USA president Vin Lananna announced the dates of the two preliminary meets will be June 29th at a yet-to-be determined venue in the Bay Area, and at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon (a suburb of Portland) on July 2nd.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

—In the women’s 60, a potential matchup between NCAA scorers Hannah Cunliffe (left/photo by Paul Merca) of Oregon, and the Huskies’ Kennadi Bouyer. Cunliffe, the Federal Way HS product, is coming off an injury suffered at the NCAA West Regionals last year that dashed any hopes of her making a run at an Olympic berth;

—Olympic Trials finalist Alexa Efraimson from Camas heads the field in the women’s mile against Nozomi Takamatsu of Japan, who won the 2014 Youth Olympics and was fourth in the 3000 at the 2014 IAAF world juniors in Eugene. Takamatsu is also entered in the 800;

—The women’s 3000 has Olympians Kim Conley and Kate Grace entered, along with former Tacoma resident Brie Felnagle, who is now training with Conley and Grace in Sacramento;

—Three of the last four Pac-12 pole vault champions are entered, including Kristina Owsinski from UW (competing unattached); current champ Elizabeth Quick of UW, and Kristine Felix of WSU.

As always, the list of accepted entries are tentative, as athletes are bound to scratch and/or switch events. The University of Washington will post final entries and heats/flights sometime on Thursday.

Monday, January 9, 2017

NEW ORLEANS—The USTFCCCA released its indoor pre-season national team rankings for Division I schools, and both University of Washington squads are among the country’s top 25 teams.

The Washington men’s team is ranked #25, while the women’s team is ranked #19 in the pre-season national computer team rankings, which is based on pre-season event rankings that include the top marks of recent NCAA indoor track & field seasons by returning athletes and the top marks of the 2017 season. The rankings do not include marks from past outdoor seasons nor marks from incoming freshmen.

The closer an athlete is to the top of their event rankings, the more points they earn towards the team total..

The nation’s top five men’s teams are Florida, Oregon, LSU, Arkansas & Syracuse.

Other MPSF schools in the top 25 include USC (6), and Stanford (10).

On the women’s side, the top five teams in the pre-season rankings are Oregon, Arkansas, Georgia, USC, and Texas.

The only other school from the MPSF in the national top 25 is Stanford at #23.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

CRETE, Nebraska—It may only be the first Saturday of 2017, but Tacoma native and US Olympic Trials finalist Dakarai Hightower (above/photo courtesy Doane University Sports Information) put the American high jumpers on notice at the Ward Haylett Invitational, as he set a school record, jumping 7-4.25 (2.24m).

For a few hours at least, Hightower, who competed last year at Lane Community College in Eugene before moving on to Doane University, an NAIA school in Crete, Nebraska, held the overall collegiate lead, until freshman Clayton Brown of Florida topped the mark, jumping 7-4.5 (2.25m) at the Clemson Orange and Purple meet.

Hightower, who was ranked #7 in the country last year according to Track & Field News, opened with first attempt makes at 7-0.5 (2.15m) and 7-2.5 (2.20m), before clearing 7-4.25 (2.24m) on his third attempt. He took three shots at tying his personal best of 7-5 (2.26m), which he set when he won the NWAAC community college title last spring.

EDINBURGH, Scotland—Garrett Heath’s (above/photo by John Nepolitan, dyestat.com) three-race winning streak at the Great Edinburgh XCountry challenge came to a screeching halt, as the member of the Seattle-based Brooks Beasts finished sixth over the 8k course at Holyrood Park Saturday.

While Heath could claim that he again finished in front of British hero, and double Olympic champion Mo Farah of the Nike Oregon Project, Heath was a ways away from collecting yet another victory.

In what was a repeat of last year’s thrilling stretch run in which Heath held off Farah for the win, Leonard Korir of Team USA caught Great Britain’s Callum Hawkins over the final few meters of the 8k distance to win in a time of 24:03 to Hawkins’ 24:04.

Heath was Team USA’s number four scorer in sixth, running 24:43, while Farah was one place behind in seventh, clocking 24:49.

Team USA had all six of its scorers place in the top eleven to win the three-team race between Team Europe and Great Britain. Team USA had a low score of 37, with Europe taking second with 70 and Great Britain third with 70 (Europe’s fifth scorer was 16th; Great Britain’s was 17th).

The Americans’ win in the final men’s 8k race gave Team USA the overall win with 149 points to Team Europe’s 152 and Great Britain’s 208 (adding the team scores of the men’s and women’s senior and mens’ and women’s under-20 races).

Friday, January 6, 2017

EDINBURGH, Scotland—The first big international test of the 2017 season gets underway Saturday morning at 5:15am Seattle time (1:15 pm local time) as Garrett Heath (above/photo courtesy BBC) of the Seattle based Brooks Beasts leads Team USA into battle at the Great Edinburgh XCountry challenge meet at fabled Holyrood Park.

Heath rolls into Edinburgh having won the last three versions of this race, and once again, the road to victory goes directly through Great Britain’s Mo Farah, the reigning world and Olympic champion at 5000 and 10000 meters, and member of the Beaverton-based Nike Oregon Project.

In last year’s race, Heath shot past Farah before the final hill with 400 meters to go, and took advantage of Farah’s slight slip on the hard right turn heading into the final downhill stretch, winning by two seconds over the 8k course in 25:29 to Farah’s 25:31.

Heath told members of the media at the pre-race presser, “I felt pretty good. And honestly it wasn’t until the last 50 metres that I thought I had much of a shot. I had a step on him but I kept waiting for him. I could hear the shouts of ‘go, Mo.’ You know what kind of kick he has and I kept waiting for it to arrive. So when I got to the end and won, I couldn’t believe it. It was just unreal.”

He told reporters, “I love being in Edinburgh. It feels a bit nostalgic for me, a bit like the kind of races I did in high school. You have to get stuck in. When I’m back in Minnesota, it’s -10°C and so it feels a bit warmer coming here. But I look forward it each time.”

Heath is the only athlete with Washington ties on the Team USA squad competing in Edinburgh, which features a junior women’s 4k race, a junior men’s 6k, a mixed 4 x 1k relay, and a women’s 6k. The mixed 4 x 1k relay will be added to this year’s IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Uganda in March.

After the blog’s annual December semi-hiatus, the time has come to hand out the 2016 Mercanator Awards!

The Mercanator Awards are for the top performers and performances of the previous year, as chronicled by this blog.

As many of you long time readers have noted, I tend not to post much in the month of December, as I tend to focus on my family, many of whom don't see me much during the other eleven months of the year, as I'm either blowing off a family outing, not answering the phone, or ignoring texts/emails. In addition to my job (the blog is not my full time occupation), I cover the NFL on a free-lance basis.

What started out as a lark back ten years ago, has evolved into the go-to place for track & field and running fans to track the progress of collegiate and pro athletes from the state of Washington.

Before handing out the awards, I’d like to thank some of the folks who have contributed text and photos in 2016, including the sports information offIces at Washington State University, Gonzaga University, Eastern Washington, Central Washington, Western Washington, Saint Martin's, Seattle University, Seattle Pacific, and the University of Washington; photographers Kirby Lee (Image of Sport), Randy Miyazaki (trackandfieldphoto.com), Howard Lao (howlaophotography.com), and Michael Scott; the media relations departments at Brooks, Oiselle, Nike, and adidas; and the countless number of individuals who have either Facebooked, tweeted, Instagrammed, or emailed me with tips, news, complaints, etc. It’s the readers of the blog who help keep this going, and your help is greatly appreciated.

In 2016, the blog travelled to Portland (twice), Tucson (four times), Pullman, Palo Alto, Eugene (three times), Sacramento, and Terre Haute to cover a variety of events, including the USA Indoors, the IAAF world indoors, the Willie Williams and Jim Click Invitationals, the Payton Jordan Invite, the UW/WSU dual, the NCAA outdoor, US Olympic Trials, Saint Martin’s Invitational, TrackTown Summer Series, the Pac-12 cross country championships, and the NCAA West Regional and National cross country championships.

And now, the 2016 Mercanators!

Here are the disclaimers: Mercanator awards are generally limited to athletes who have affiliations with the state of Washington—either they were born in this state, currently reside in the state, or attend(ed) school in the state. Also, not all categories from previous editions were awarded this year…publisher's decision.

Allen won both the Pac-12 and NCAA 110 titles, and followed it up by winning the US Olympic Trials and finished fifth in the Olympics, clearly ahead of the trio. He was ranked #5 by Track & Field News in the world in his specialty.

Berry finished eighth at the US Olympic Trials in the 400, while Andrade, representing Cape Verde, reached the semi-finals in the 400 hurdles, and Anderson had a strong season leading up to the Olympic Trials in the 400 hurdles, but did not make the finals.

TOP PERFORMER—Men’s Middle Distances: The athletes in contention for the award included last year’s event category winner, Garrett Heath of the Brooks Beasts; the University of Washington’s Izaic Yorks; Olympic 5000m finalist Hassan Mead, a former Puyallup resident; and, Washington State alum Bernard Lagat, who has been in contention for this award since the inception of the Mercanators.

Heath had a good start, winning the Great Edinburgh Cross Country title, beating repeat Olympic 5000/10000 champ Mo Farah, but could not follow it up during the outdoor season, only finishing 13th in the finals of the 5000 at the Olympic Trials. Yorks won the MPSF mile title and the Pac-12 1500 crown, then was upset at the NCAA 1500m finals, but won the semis at the Olympic Trials 1500m before finishing 10th in the finals.

Bernard Lagat gets the nod, after winning the Olympic Trials 5000 with one of the most stirring stretch runs, fighting off Mead, then found a way to keep himself in contention in the finals of the 5000 at the Rio Olympics before finishing fifth. He also earned a #7 world ranking from Track & Field News.

TOP PERFORMER—Men’s Distances: Lagat also gets the honors here, based on his debut win at the Payton Jordan 10000 at Stanford, running 27:49.35. Jake Riley’s 15th place finish in the US Olympic marathon trials under hot conditions gets him an honorable mention.

TOP PERFORMER—Men’s Vertical Jumps: It was a down year in the vertical jumps, as long time regular Brad Walker only vaulted at the Olympic Trials to apparently end his storied career, as he concentrated on his coaching duties at Washington State.

The University of Washington’s Jax Thoirs, who won the NCAA indoor pole vault title, and finished fifth outdoors, gets the nod by a slight edge over Tacoma native Dakarai Hightower, who cleared a personal best 7-5 (2.26m) and finished sixth in the high jump at the US Olympic Trials.

TOP PERFORMER—Men’s Horizontal Jumps: University of Washington alum Norris Frederick gets the nod, after a ninth place finish in the long jump at the US Olympic Trials and a season best of 26-4.5 (8.04m).

TOP PERFORMER—Men’s Multi-Events: Another former Husky, Jeremy Taiwo, earns the honors in the multis, after finishing fourth at the Götziz meet (8203), taking second at the Olympic Trials with a personal best (8425) and 11th at the Olympics (8300) to earn a #8 world ranking from Track & Field News.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s Sprints: Before she got injured at the NCAA regional meet, Federal Way HS grad Hannah Cunliffe was in the conversation as a legitimate US Olympic team member, after finishing second at the Mt. SAC Relays and dipping under 11 seconds (10.99), and winning the Pac-12 title. Nonetheless, she gets the nod here.

Cunliffe also ran 22.49 in the 200, and finished second indoors at the NCAAs in the 60 and third in the 200.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s Middle Distances: Plenty of athletes to choose from in this category, from Phoebe Wright and Justine Fedronic in the 800; Alexa Efraimson in the 1500; Mel Lawrence in the steeple; and Katie Mackey in the 5000.

In a close call, Alexa Efraimson gets the nod over Katie Mackey, after finishing sixth at the Olympic Trials, and finishing fifth at the IAAF world U20 meet in Poland. Mackey was sixth in the 5000 at the Trials.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s Distances: University of Washington alum Lindsay Flanagan gets the honors here after finishing fourth in the Frankfurt Marathon and breaking 2:30 for the first time (2:29:28), after finishing 14th at the Olympic Marathon Trials in Los Angeles.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s Hurdles: Washington State University assistant coach Angela Whyte gets the honors here, as the Canadian veteran finished fifth in the finals of the 60 hurdles at the IAAF world indoor championships, then made Canada’s Olympic team in the 100 hurdles, running a season best 12.85.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s Vertical Jumps: University of Washington alum Diamara Planell Cruz takes the honors here, after finishing third in the NCAA indoor pole vault, then qualifying for Puerto Rico’s Olympic team by clearing the Olympic standard of 14-9 (4.50m) at the Mt. SAC Relays.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s Horizontal Jumps: University Place resident Andrea Geubelle (above/photo by Paul Merca), who was finally healthy after a frustrating 2014 and 2015 campaign, gets the nod here, after jumping 46-5.25 (14.15m) in Chula Vista, her furthest since the 2013 season, and making the US Olympic team.

TOP PERFORMER—Women’s Throws: Vancouver’s Kara Winger(above/photo by Howard Lao) gets the nod in this category. While she did make her third straight US Olympic team and missed the finals of the Olympics in the javelin by one place, Winger would probably be the first to admit that it was a down season for her, after her amazing 2015 campaign in which she threatened her own American record, and placed eighth in the javelin at the world championships. Winger competed sparingly in 2016, after recovering from shoulder surgery, but was still good enough to rank #2 in the US according to Track & Field News.

The winners of the 2016 Mercanator Award for the best track & field athletes from Washington state as selected by the editor of paulmerca.blogspot.com are Devon Allen on the men’s side, and on the women’s side, a tie between Andrea Geubelle and Kara Winger…congratulations to the three of you!

We are honored to receive this award, as it comes from our peers who passionately cover the sport, and strive to continue the legacy of excellence that the late Adam Jacobs sought before his untimely passing.

Custom Search

About Me

Internationally respected track and field writer Paul Merca brings his take on the sport to paulmerca.blogspot.com.
Paul was the assistant director of communications for the 1984 USA Women's Olympic Marathon Trials in Olympia, WA., and public relations director for the 1999 USA Cross Country Championships in Tacoma, WA.
The current public address announcer for the University of Washington's home track and field meets, Merca's been a media assistant to the USA national team (2001-11, 13, 15, 17) at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
His vast knowledge of the sport has been utilized by many of the country's sports television networks, and is a senior writer to Northwest Runner magazine. He's covered 13 IAAF World Track & Field Championships, and two Olympics.
Merca graduated from Seattle's Franklin High School in 1977, and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington in 1981 in Communications.
He competed in track and cross country at Franklin, and ran cross country at the University of Washington.